Small village of 11.42 square kilometers with 3,382 inhabitants, set on the soft hills of those mountains just described, located in the immediate hinterland between Cefalù and Messina, on a territory that develops from 80 to 1,081 meters above sea level.

It is characterized, for the strong union sea-mountain that constitutes, together with the rurality, a strong point within the integrated tourist itineraries. The privileged position allows you to admire to the south-west the valley of Fitalia (name of: land that produces plants), to the north the seven islands of the Aeolian Archipelago, to the south-east the imposing cone of Etna. villa3Castell'Umberto is not identified as a quaint ancient village, but neither, as is easy to imagine, as a modern center, rather it can be described as an environment quietly usable in a dimension, while retaining so much of the past, offers spaces and activities that can meet modern needs. Over the years, events of various kinds have meant that the country developed on two different planes in time and space.

Originally called Castania, the town, with Royal Decree dated June 8, 1865, was moved to a location a few kilometers from the original location, and was called Castell'Umberto in honor of Prince Umberto I. From this moment on we have a historical part "Castania" remained almost intact and a modern part "Castell'Umberto" that develops a plan geometrically regular and rational checkerboard shape, presenting inside the formal episodes particular, which highlight the public offices, the large square, the villas and the urban park. Let us now travel through history, in how and in what we have been, in order not to feel lost, to recognize ourselves, to place ourselves in time and space, to give meaning, to add meaning, or simply out of curiosity.

To define, with precision, the birth and the succession of the historical events of a small community like Castell'Umberto is difficult, because, it is particularly difficult to find answers in the sources; little is mentioned places that have not had great economic importance, social and political within that circuit of great facts and events that characterize the history of a country, in our case the history of Sicily. In any case, from a certain point of view, being history made mostly of wars, plots, dark pages, all in all it is better not to be there, as Thomas Carlyle said: «Happy are the peoples whose annals are empty in the history books».

That said, it should be noted, that to speak of the origins of Castell'Umberto means relying on a few sources, however, not properly studied, legends, which tend to heroize the foundation. It means giving credit to more or less happy intuitions, to risky hypotheses, and, in any case, to the good will of local scholars. Scholars who have used their knowledge of Sicilian history and culture, personal memories of facts, places and people, but also the stories handed down, to develop theories about the time of birth, the choice of name, the succession of events. It is important to emphasize that to try to get an idea of the birth of our country, you have to look at the events that have affected the entire Fitalia valley . Whatever happened, it is particularly fascinating and suggestive, to be carried away by the legend.

Looking north-east over the valley of the river Fitalia, imagine, that group of Trojan warriors fled at the time of the epic war, arrive exhausted by the conflict and the long journey, go up the river and, struck by a luxuriant generous nature, choose that place, whose name rightly means "land that produces plants", and, in honor of Ascanio son of Enea, found a small colony "Scanio" today’s Santa Marina. If what said, for who knows what historical magic, corresponded to reality, we would have both the founders and the name, in fact, from the term "castrum Aeneae" (camp of Aeneas) would have come, through a process of corruption by synthesis, to the name of Castania (thesis supported by Rosario Scurria).